School Shootings: Common Sense Dad Says We Need to Take Responsibility for Our Kids Opinion Parenting Fatherhood
In the wake of the latest school shooting, this time in Maryland, “Common Sense Dad” Richard Greenberg poses the question: “Where are the parents?” Greenberg, author of "Raising Children That Other People Like to be Around” and the Common Sense Dad column, says, “This time a bad guy with a gun was killed by a good guy with the gun.” However, he is quick to note that “the bad guy was 17, so even though there was someone was there to put an end to it, I have to ask, where are the parents?”
Strong parenting, says Greenberg, is the missing element in student on student violence. “How does a person, a human who has been brought into this world and raised by an adult and a community, not know the value of human life,” the Los Angeles father of four writes.
Greenberg says it doesn’t matter which side of the gun debate you fall on, “The bottom line here is not that the guy went out, used a gun, and shot someone. The issue is that this young man thought the solution to his problem was to go out and shoot some other kids.”
Greenberg, who grew up in a family where his father kept a handgun in the house, points to parents being able, and willing to shoulder the responsibility of talking to their children. “We have to find out why they’re sulking. We have to keep an eye on their friendships, their interests – and their choices,” he says. “These things are our business.”
What do you think?
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Why are these kids filled with so much hate and lack of caring about another human life? What has happened or not happened in their life?!
And the want to kill another human being? :( I'm constantly in my kids faces knowing who their friends are, who does what sport, who hangs out with who, who are their parents. I'm not naive that these shootings can't happen in our town but the more we know about who are kids surround themselves with the better.
I always encourage our 4 kids to be nice to everyone and reach out to those they feel need a smile, a friend and/or know that someone does care about them. All these shootings hurt my heart and want to hug on all the parents that lost their children in these horrific shootings year after year. Arm the schools, arm the Temples, arm the Churches and lets be vigilant in keeping each other and our loved ones safe. xoxoxo